Austin City Guide: Unique Local Experiences

Café Monet
4477 South Lamar Blvd. Ste. 560, Austin, TX
(512) 892-3200
Hours:
Sunday-Monday: 12pm-6pm
Tuesday-Wednesday: 11am-8pm
Thursday-Saturday: 11am-9pm
Price: Pieces starting at $5
www.cafemonet.org
Age Range: Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, Elementary, Tween, Teen

This paint-your-own pottery and mosaic studio is a great place to let your grandchildren flex their creative muscles. Choose from hundreds of pieces of pottery, and the staff at Café Monet will even give you a few painting lessons before you begin. If your stay in Austin is short, keep in mind that it takes about five days for the pieces to be fired in the kiln (Quickfire is available for an additional cost, but still takes about three days).

Congress Avenue Bridge’s Urban Bat Colony
305 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX
(512) 416-5700 (ext. 3636)
www.batcon.org/index.php/get-involved/visit-a-bat-location/congress-avenue-bridge/subcategory/intro.html
Hours: Open daily
Price: Free
Age Range: Elementary, Tween, Teen

See the world’s largest urban bat colony at the Congress Avenue Bridge. This Austin original is awe-inspiring, amazing, and of course a little “weird”—but where else can you see 1.5 million bats emerge for their nightly quest for food? Check out the Bat Observation Center’s website for updated “emergence” times and show your grandchildren (if you don’t think they’d be afraid of 1.5 million bats!) something they can’t see anywhere else.

Cathedral of Junk (pictured above)
4422 Lareina Drive, Austin, TX
(512) 299-7413
www.roadsideamerica.com/story/7816
Hours: By appointment only
Price: Free
Age Range: Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, Elementary, Tween, Teen

Travelling to see 60 tons of junk may not sound like an ideal afternoon at first, but once you lay eyes on this popular roadside attraction you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The Cathedral’s builder and owner, Vince Hannemann, is your typical Austin resident with a day job and a small house in a quiet neighborhood. But in his backyard is a magical wonderland built exclusively of… junk… from all over the country.

Zilker Metropolitan Park
2100 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX
(512) 974-6700
www.austintexas.gov/department/zilker-metropolitan-park
Hours: 5am-10pm (daily)
Price: Free
Age Range: Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, Elementary, Tween, Teen

Zilker Memorial Park is Austin’s most beloved green space. This 351-acre park is home to a wide variety of activities, attractions like Barton Springs Pool, and the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, with plenty of space to enjoy a picnic or take a walk through the Zilker Botanical Gardens. Year-round activities like the Zilker holiday tree and the Zilker Park Kite Festival guarantee that there’s something to do here, no matter the season.

Graffiti Park
Baylor Street and 11th Street, Austin, TX
www.keepaustinweird.com/current.html
Hours: Daily
Price: Free
Age Range: Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, Elementary, Tween, Teen

There are plenty of great photo ops in Graffiti Park, an urban art installation of murals featuring work from local artists and talented visitors.

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